BlocPower, a social enterprise that aims to provide job training and energy-efficient products in underserved neighborhoods

Baird, 31, runs BlocPower, a social enterprise that aims to provide job training and energy-efficient products in underserved neighborhoods.

“One in three men in that neighborhood was incarcerated, and so many of them who had served their time in jail had come back to the neighborhood and had nothing to do,” Baird said. “No one would hire them; they were not given a second chance. It was not clear what they were supposed to do with the rest of their lives.”

“Using about $2.5 million from the city’s federal stimulus funds, the group weatherized 400 houses, while training 20 formerly unemployed workers to do the work. He said the trainees received health benefits and were paid a wage high enough to sustain a family of four.”–WILLIAM HARLESS